last goodbye

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Our dear friend Eirin has suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. It's very hard to process what has just happened. The Doctors said her heart just stopped. She was only twenty five. Twenty five.

Just stopped.

We met Eirin by chance while we were living in London, seven years ago. We were renting in a share house at the time and a friend of our housemate asked us at the last minute if his Norweigan friend could stay with us, as they had no spare beds. This sort of thing happened a lot. I don't think we had a bed, but we had a couch. So stayed she did. And became friends we did. Something clicked and over the next couple of years, Eirin often came to visit us in London where we would go "shopping bananas". The girl loved fashion, perhaps even more than me. We'd spend the evenings drinking wine and having mini fashion parades before heading out for the night. Paddy was very patient with our young, girly antics.

We had always planned to visit Eirin in Norway and go skiing in the winter. But we were penniless travellers and unfortunately it never eventuted. I so desperately wish we had gone. Not for the skiing. Not for the experience of travel. Just for Eirin. It would have meant so much to her.

When we moved back to Australia we stayed in touch and in December 2007 Eirin came to visit us. I remember her excitement leading up to her holiday. She worked all through her Summer vacation to save money for the tickets and her "shopping bananas" fund. We showed her the best of Sydney and the Blue Mountains and then she joined us and our families in Townsville for Christmas. We welcomed the first sunrise of 2008 at Bondi Beach. Only real friends do these kinds of things.

Eirin was in the process of planning her next visit - to move to Sydney. To study there. She had plans for her future. Dreams. She wanted to do something extraordinary with her life.

Just stopped.

Eirin told Paddy on the phone just days ago how much she loved this blog - loved seeing what we were up to. Loved that she could watch Eulalie grow and see glimpses of our home. She said it made her feel inspired.

I'm glad that she felt inspired. More than anything though, I hope she felt loved and adored the same way she made us feel.

Farvel, Eirin. I have faith in something wonderful and peaceful just beginning for you.

♥♥♥

Our deepest, most sincere condolences extend to Eirin's family. We are sending our love all the way from Australia. You are in our thoughts and in our hearts.

This is so, so sad. Tragic. Unbelievable. I'm so sorry you had to lose such a beautiful friend. I'm so sorry Eirin's family had to lose someone so special. So young. So unexpected. This is a heartfelt and beautiful tribute. She obviously meant a lot to you as I'm sure you did to her.